Canadian women place 2nd in wrestling at senior Pan Am championships

Five Canadian wrestlers reached the podium Saturday, providing a strong United States team with some competition at the senior Pan American championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Hannah Taylor of Cornwall, P.E.I. leads 5-medal haul with lone silver

Hannah Taylor of Cornwall, Prince Edward Island, was the lone silver medallist Saturday on Canada's wrestling team, which received bronze from Diane Wiecker, Olivia Di Bacco, Erica Wiebe and Jasmit Phulka on the men’s side. (Twitter/@ericawiebe)

Five Canadian wrestlers reached the podium Saturday, providing a strong United States team with some competition at the senior Pan American championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Hannah Taylor of Cornwall, P.E.I., was the lone silver medallist for Canada, which received bronze from Diane Wiecker, Olivia Di Bacco, Erica Wiebe and Jasmit Phulka on the men's side.

Eight other Canadian men were scheduled to compete Sunday.

Canada's five medals were three shy of the U.S., which earned two gold, three silver and three bronze.

Weicker, who is Taylor's teammate at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont., defeated Carolina Castillo Hidalgo 6-2 for bronze in the 53-kilogram division.

Olympic champion

The native of Kentville, N.S., lost in the semifinals to American Sarah Hildebrandt, who went on to capture gold.

Di Bacco, who also attends Brock, placed third in the 68 kg bracket by injury forfeit against Yanet Sovero of Peru.

Wiebe, of Stittsville, Ont., who won gold at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, blanked Cuba's Mabelkis Capote Perez 6-0 to win bronze in Buenos Aires.

After a quarter-final loss to U.S. rival Adeline Gray in the 76 kg division, the 29-year-old Wiebe won her repechage match against Andrea Olaya Gutierrez of Colombia to earn a berth in the bronze-medal bout.

Phulka, who hails from Abbotsford, B.C., set the tone for the Canadian men with a bronze-medal performance in 79 kg bracket.